


Fic Where Kyoko Decks Celes

by ScarletAnpan



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Angst, Awkward comforting, F/F, Presents, Punching, Skeletons, Slapping, but comforting nonetheless, crying but its kyoko this time, very badly timed jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:47:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletAnpan/pseuds/ScarletAnpan
Summary: Refer to the title. Angst/Attempted ComfortThe final investigation to escape the killing game and discover the secret of Hope's Peak Academy is occurring. But when Kyoko finally makes it into the secret room in the Headmaster's private quarters, she get answers she may not have wanted.Also, Celestia is alive and there to help investigate(?) because why not?
Relationships: Kirigiri Kyoko/Celestia Ludenberg
Kudos: 88





	Fic Where Kyoko Decks Celes

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry but no you will not get context for any of what happens below. Hope you enjoy!

The Final Investigation. All rooms were unlocked, secrets of the academy now accessible in hopes of giving the students a chance to discover the truth. Kyoko had bargained with the mastermind to make this possible, sacrificing Makoto and then letting luck run its course—thankfully being able to retrieve him from the trash dump alive. And now with this opportunity before her, the detective had no choice but to take it with all the might that she could. Her memories still vague and fuzzy, she had to go forth to discover the secret behind the academy that had been itching at her since the first minute she had awoken in it.

And now she stood in the headmaster’s private quarters, on the second floor dormitory. She had been there a few times already throughout the course of the investigation, but this is the first time she had arrived with someone in tow. The gothic lolita gambler walked about the room, viewing the immaculate made bed, the series of small pots along a shelf, and the spaciously empty closet.

“My, it is interesting that the headmaster would have a private room in such a place like this,” Celestia commented as she viewed the obviously luxurious room.

“...yes. I’ve been here several times. It’s an interesting place.”

“Several times already? I expected no less of you. Although I fail to see why you would return after so many visits.”

“There’s something here.” The gambler raised a brow and scanned the room. Her eyes quickly settled on the out-of-place spot, the slight indentation on the far wall. She walked over, placing a hand to feel the half-inch gorge between the otherwise continuous surface. A draft blew softly between her fingers.

“A hidden door of sorts, is it not?” Kyoko nodded. “And how do you go about entering it?”

“It’s quite simple. I found a program on the computer that seems to control it. All it needs is a password.”

“I see. It is quite fitting of this academy to own computer-operated hidden doors.”

“It is. The only problem being I haven’t been able to figure out the password. There’s no hints in this room, and the obvious ones seem to not work.”

“The headmaster must have been quite secretive about his private information.”

“I was easily able to access the computer and its search history, I’d argue otherwise. The headmaster seems quite foolish, but unfortunately didn’t apply such simple logic to this password.”

“That is a shame, is it not?” Celestia stepped away from the wall and walked to the other side of the room, examining the shelf of small vases. “You are quite sure there’s no hints about here?”

“Yes. I’ve checked many times.”

“Hm… so obvious possible passwords like something involving Hope’s Peak are out of the question. Perhaps the mastermind changed it?”

“I considered as much. I’ve tried as much as I could think of, but no luck.” The gambler walked over to Kyoko’s side, examining the computer. The detective drummed her gloved fingers softly on the keyboard.

“Well that’s a shame. There must be something awfully important behind this door, if so much trouble was went through to conceal it.” Kyoko hummed in agreement, staring into the screen as she wracked her brain for answers. “I cannot imagine what could be behind this door. Perhaps the password is something unsuspected—perhaps it is your own name.” Kyoko glanced over at Celestia with a hard stare, which the gambler smiled at. “I am only jesting, Kyoko.” The detective sighed.

“...it’s as good of a guess as any.” She began typing in her own name, much to the surprise of Celestia. The gambler hadn’t expected her to take her up on the joke. As Kyoko pressed the final button to enter it, a strange beep resounded through the room. Both looked around, as another sound of buzzing occured, coming from the wall indentation, and it began to fold in like a door. Both watched in silence for a few moments.

“I do not believe this. To think your name was the answer... quite odd, no?” Celestia turned to Kyoko to see an unusual expression on her face. One that made the detective look distressed, sick to her stomach almost—at least that was the most the gambler could garner from it. The average person would think her slightly disgruntled, but Celestia could tell the expression meant much more than that.

“Why…?” She spoke in the softest, slightly strained voice. Celestia’s question went unheard, as she hurried into the room. The gambler followed behind her, walking into a decently spacious back room with concrete walls and piping on one side. There was also a desk and an adjacent dresser with something atop it. But none of that was of importance at the moment. Underneath a somewhat dim lamp, a small round table sat with a large box on it. It was bright and colorful, like a child’s present.

“Oh my… what do we have here?” The gambler approached the box, joining Kyoko’s side and studying it with a bit of a frown. “I do not have the best feeling about this.”

“...if it’s what I think it is, it’s not dangerous. Just surprising.”

“Oh? Then I guess we will have to see.” The gambler placed her hands on it’s lid, pulling it off quickly. She glanced inside, a shudder going down her spine at the sight of it. At human bones. “Oh—Oh god,” she muttered, her accent faltering for a moment. “A skull…”

“Just as I thought.” Kyoko stared at it. “The headmaster.”

“This is the headmaster?” Celestia stared at the bones, before finally placing the lid down on the table and attempting to compose herself. “How do you know?”

“Based on the information we were already given; Alter Ego reported the headmaster was most likely in this building somewhere, and Monokuma was specific about mentioning that the only people alive when the game started were the sixteen students. If you put that together, it only makes sense that the headmaster was indeed in the school, but already dead before the killing game started.” Celestia stared at the skull as she heard Kyoko’s collected analysis.

“So this means he is not the mastermind.”

“Yes. I had a feeling he wasn’t from the beginning.”

“...then what does this mean for us? Why would the mastermind choose to kill him and leave his bones as a present? If they simply wanted him out of the picture—perhaps to make the killing game easier to carry out—then there is no reason to go through the extra trouble to show us his body, correct?”

“We already know the mastermind enjoys tormenting others. Likely this was another thing they did to create despair.” The gambler hummed and tapped her finger claw to her chin in thought.

“That does make sense. The sight of bones is a bit unnerving, but if I may be honest, not entirely despair-inducing. Perhaps a trap like this was laid out for more weak-minded people.”

“...perhaps it was.” Silence reigned between the two for a full thirty seconds. “Celestia, can I ask you a favor?”

“What is it?”

“I know it’s unreasonable for me to ask this of you and entirely inconvenient, but… could you leave?” The gambler raised a brow.

“Excuse me?”

“Could you leave the room? Just for a while. I need some time to collect myself.”

“I am sorry, but I cannot imagine that would be a good idea. We have yet to finish investigating this room, and I think it is a bad idea to split up in such a crucial time.”

“That is true… but I’d like to be alone for just a minute.” 

“Even so. I cannot honor that request, Kyoko. I hope you will forgive me.”

“...it’s fine.” Silence lifted back up into the air, and the gambler frowned at the sudden odd interaction. Her eyes couldn’t help but trace to Kyoko’s expression, as the detective clenched her teeth and frowned deeply, eyebrows furrowed. Her gloved fist was balled up tight, trembling lightly. She stared more and more at the box, the only unreadable part of her expression being her unwavering eyes. Celestia examined this carefully, intrigued by it. It was a strange situation after all, but the air had an almost suffocating quality with how tense it was.

“It is quite unlike you to look so worked up about something so trivial. They are only bones after all, no more harmful than a small prank,” she began to assure, in hopes of lightening the mood. She smiled amusedly. “Unless you mean to tell me these are the bones of your father or something?” Kyoko’s eye twitched and she shifted, taking a step back to hide the slight shudder she felt at those words. Celestia raised a brow at the sudden movement, and the detective shut her eyes tight for a moment, teeth gritted. She almost looked pained and angry. It was a sort of look that caught the gambler so off guard that she hadn’t seen the movement that followed, which turned her vision to a dark purple for a moment's time. It wasn’t until she found herself losing balance, seeing black from having flinched, and not yet processing the growing pain on her right cheek. Even having years of experience functioning entirely in heels, nothing could prepare her for the force that pressed against her jaw—almost sharp if not for leather—and made her stumble far backwards, rendering her unable to even begin to catch herself. Instead, a wooden dresser stopped her decent, but she still fell into it, smacking her back against it with a hollow sound that resounded through the room. A surprised and pained grunt left her lips and soon another sound followed, a much higher-pitched shattering of sorts. Something fell next to the gambler, who was left in a position that had her slumped up against the dresser, blunt pain running up her spine and seething in her jaw especially. It took a few seconds before she even realized the detective had punched her with enough force to send her careening into the dresser. 

Kyoko stood there, still staring at the box, not a single word coming from her mouth. She hardly reacted to what she had done. Celestia however—persona having vanished from her mind temporarily—quickly got back to her feet, filled with confusion, surprise, but most presently anger. 

“Kyoko! What the hell!?” The gambler cried out as she instinctively rushed for the detective, practically jumping to tackle her to the ground. Kyoko barely turned her head before Celestia collided into her, sending them both to the floor. Kyoko fell on her back and Celestia atop her, making room for only a slightly disgruntled breath. She stared upwards past Celestia, who sat up quickly and had her by the shirt. “What is wrong with you!?” No answer came, and no eye contact came either. Overcome by anger the gambler attempted to slap sense into her, the sound of it echoing through the room. With hardly any reaction she tried it again. And again. And again as she yelled at the detective. “What were— you— thinking!— That fucking— hurt—! Were you— trying to— kill me!?”

It wasn’t until the gambler felt something that she stopped. Her hand was wet and she looked at Kyoko to see tears, which were slightly smeared across her cheek. Everything within Celestia paused as she examined the teary face of Kyoko, and within an instant her anger was put away. She grew immediate concern for a sight that seemed almost unnatural. “Kyoko...?” The detective was silent, grimacing as she shut her eyes.

“...are you going to keep sitting there?” Celestia stared at her for a moment, before realizing and quickly getting up. Kyoko sat up and came to standing in one quick motion, before turning away to face the door. She quickly wiped away the tears with a gloved hand, as Celestia stared at her back.

“Are you alright?” The gambler asked softly. Even with a quickly reddening face, she couldn’t help but be distracted by the sight of tears. 

“You shouldn’t worry about me.”

“Well I don’t believe I have any other option. You’re aware that you’re crying, right?” Silence reigned between the two and the gambler glanced back at the box. But out of the corner of her eye she spotted the dresser, and something that had shattered on the ground in front of it. She walked over to see it was a frame, glass shards tiny and broken around it, with the picture exposed in the process. She stooped down and picked it out of the debris, immediately noticing something. A girl with the same pale lavender hair, and the back of a man’s head who held her up. The two were playing, and it took less than a second for Celestia to recognize the girl. “Kyoko… is this you?” The detective turned around and saw the picture in her hand. She hurriedly walked over and looked at it. There was a sense of panic behind her eyes.

“Seriously…” she muttered under her breath, looking more annoyed than anything else. She took a few steps away again, hiding her expression.

“Well? What does this mean?” Kyoko grimaced and stared at the ground for a few moments before turning to look at Celestia. That usual piercing stare bored through the gambler, but was somewhat offset with the bridge of tears in her eyes. Other than that, she had entirely collected herself.

“That *was* my father.” Celestia’s eyes widened. “He was the headmaster of this school.” The gambler looked to the skull sitting pleasantly in the box. It’s appearance almost seemed to change at hearing that.

“I… oh dear. I’m sorry Kyoko, I didn’t realize.”

“It’s fine. It was an interesting guess.” The detective crossed her arms and sighed out softly. “I just remembered that recently, however.”

“...so you weren’t lying about the amnesia?”

“No. I have no reason to. In the past few days it came back. That’s why I came to this school in the first place… to find him.” Celestia gave her a stare that was obviously full of questions, so the detective continued. “I didn’t tell anyone because I wanted to confirm what I remembered was true. But my talent is the Ultimate Detective.”

“...not at all a surprise.” Kyoko nodded.

“I came from a family of them. My family is highly prideful of detective work, so at a young age I already started to learn. However, my father didn’t want to be a detective. He abandoned the family and my grandfather raised me instead. Regardless of how hard I worked to develop my talent, I was judged by all others who knew my father. Whenever they saw me they would see his failures. He was a coward, and I’ve been stuck in his shadow my whole life. I came here to end things with him. My goal was to make it clear that I have no relation to that man anymore.” There was a bit of a long pause between Celestia and Kyoko, the gambler processing the information and the detective mulling over it. Celestia ran her thumb over the picture in hand, as she couldn’t help to look between the young girl and Kyoko herself.

“It must’ve been shocking, recalling so much. To think that you were directly related to the headmaster.”

“...related is a bit of a stretch,” she said with a frown. “Maybe by blood, but not in mind or spirit. As far as I’m concerned, we were almost perfect strangers.” 

“I think that this picture says otherwise. If you remember him from childhood there must be some sort of connection there.” Kyoko looked at the picture in Celestia’s hand, and a sudden grimace overcame her again. A pained one.

“I was a c—hild,” she mumbled, her voice cracking. “I-I didn’t know better…” Her eyes trailed to the ground, as she grit her teeth in attempts to hold back the watering sensation in the bridge of her eyes. Her throat began to hurt, becoming scratchy as her expression distorted into one of anguish. She felt her paced breathing give way, her breath going short. She clenched her chest with her left hand. Her arm started to shake and she tried to hold onto it with the other hand, but the trembling continued. She shut her eyes tight, but tears forced their way out. They weren’t slow rolling tears, but a sudden steady stream of them. A soft sob choked its way out of her. “And now… I f-finally get to… confront him and he’s… gone ag—ain…! What a… coward…” Celestia couldn’t help but stare at the sight. The detective stood there, shaking and holding herself, trying to calm down. It was something she never thought she’d see, even having seen her cry just minutes before. 

“Kyoko…?” Celestia came closer to the detective, who could only pull away slightly. Kyoko couldn’t bring herself to even look at Celestia and just shut her eyes tighter. All the emotions she had ever refused to feel had come back to her full force. She could hardly handle it, the sudden flood in her brain overwhelming all of her senses. She felt weak, hardly able to even think about anything except for what was putting her in such pain. “...are you okay?”

“I—jus… to end...” was all she could say through soft sobs, making her mostly unintelligible. “...now… I’ll—ver… gain…” The detective felt weaker and weaker the more she cried. It brought her down to her knees and she hunched over, leaning on an outstretched arm to keep from crumbling completely to the floor. There were no words that could make their way out of her mouth, only soft sobs. Celestia had no clue how to react to such a sight. She decided to approach even at the tugging feeling she shouldn’t. 

She came to her knees next to the detective—gently, gracefully—and placed a nervous and awkward hand on the shaky shoulder of Kyoko. She could hardly react to the gambler’s attempt at comforting, too caught up in the pure pain of the situation to think logically, to push her away the way she usually would with anyone. It was awful. All the pain of abandonment; losing her mother and then not long after her father, never understanding the latter. Having to grow up only knowing that her father abandoned the family and her. And then never being able to move on because her father was the only thing people mentioned when they saw her—no matter how hard she worked to move out of his shadow.

She convinced herself he was awful, and that she hated him for what he did, and that the reason why she would throw away her own pride to be scouted to Hope’s Peak was only for the sake of completely severing the ties between them. She fooled herself, convinced herself of this a thousand times over until it became as true as she could make it. But she knew it was a lie. While part of her truly wanted it, a much deeper, more childish desire just wanted her father. To see him, speak to him, understand why he did what he did to her. To get answers, and finally be able to process the fact that she does have a parent left in the world. That maybe she does have someone who loves her for more than being a detective worthy of becoming the family heir. Someone who loves her with no strings attached.

And it was true, it had to be. The password to his secret study was her name—he even kept a picture of her in there. She meant something to him, and just in seeing that she felt that there was a love that she would now never get to experience. She wanted to hate him for it. She wanted to dig deeper the idea that he was awful, and every step she took forward he became more and more out of reach. Now all the questions, feelings, thoughts that she had for him would never be realized. The thing she had worked so hard to get to was just out of grasp. And for a few moments time, a despair stronger than any other shattered her psyche. It was awful and unfair. Completely unfair. It felt like suffering just for the sake of it—absolute torment. And the only thing she could do was cry about it, cry the tears that she had held back since the day she realized her father wasn’t coming back home. 

There were so many tears that needed to be shed that they poured out like a stream, flooding her face and quickly falling to dampen the floor. She had hardly ever cried before, and so the detective couldn’t even begin to control herself. She could only endure it as she remained on the floor, kneeled over and shaking, gasping for proper breath. Her chest hurt, feeling tight, as her throat scratched with each pained sound, the pit in her stomach only growing. 

Celestia was entirely clueless on how to approach the situation, beyond the hand that rested on the detective’s trembling shoulder. Kyoko had made no acknowledgement of Celestia or her actions since she had started crying—the gambler assumed she was too upset. Using what little knowledge she had of comforting people, the gambler began to softly pat Kyoko on the shoulder. Not much changed, so she remained by her side until the sobs turned into soft crying. Finally she just sat there, taking deep breaths. Her eyes trailed up to Celestia’s, red with exhaustion. She sat there slumped, the emotional drain too much on the detective to attempt to put on her usual cold, distant exterior. The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments.

“...I’m sorry you saw that,” Kyoko murmured weakly.

“No, it’s fine. I think that’s the least of my worries at the moment.” She received only a soft grumble in response. “I’m sorry I mentioned your father.”

“It’s fine. I thought I had better control over my feelings about him. Obviously I don’t.”

“Well you shouldn’t blame yourself for that. That seems like… an emotional situation.” Kyoko looked at her and then down, nodding slightly.

“Maybe so. I just wanted to see him again, to get closure. Now I’ll never get the chance and it’s frustrating,” she said with a sigh. “I had to throw away my pride to get into this school—and now I find out it was all for nothing.”

“Your pride?” She nodded in response.

“I had to reveal my talent publicly to be scouted. However, my family is very private when it comes to detective work. I’m the same way, I take a lot of pride in it and I had to sacrifice that in order to get to Hope’s Peak.” She lowered her eyes. “Now that I think about it, it was foolish of me to do. Especially for a result like this.”

“Well that isn’t your fault. I don’t believe anyone coming here expected to be subjected to this killing game.” 

“I guess not. Either way I wouldn’t have gotten to see my father, I suppose. It was inevitable that this would happen.” The gambler looked down for a minute in thought, and then back up.

“At the very least you have an answer,” she began. “Just…” Kyoko frowned.

“Not the one I wanted? Yeah.” She crossed her arms. “Anyways, I think we should get back to investigating. We won’t find out much about the secret of this academy here.” The detective quickly stood up and dusted off her skirt. She looked at Celestia, and offered the gambler a hand as she joined her in standing. “I’m sorry I punched you earlier.” The gambler stared at her in confusion for a moment, before remembering why her face hurt.

“You ought to be! If it leaves a mark I will never forgive you, you know.”

“...that’s fair.”

“I do have to apologize too, though. I may have slapped you multiple times.”

“It’s fine, I didn’t feel it.” The gambler didn’t know if that was a relief or an insult, so she chose to ignore it. “If anything you can say it brought me back to my senses.”

“Good. It seems like you needed it.” The detective nodded and looked around the room. She walked over to the dresser and kneeled down once more to grab the picture that had broken out of it’s frame. She looked at it for a moment before folding it and putting it in her shirt pocket.

“I’ll hold onto this.” Afterward came a quick search of all the dresser drawers, and then the desk that had a few relatively meaningless papers atop it. There was nothing of real value except for in the bottom drawer, where she found another e-handbook. It was labeled to be used only for emergencies, so the detective also kept that. “It seems like we’re done here. We should see what the others have found.”

“Yes, that seems like the best idea.” Kyoko turned to head towards the door, but stopped once she reached it and turned around.

“Celes.”

“What is it?”

“Can I ask that you keep what you saw between us? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I would prefer it to not be known.”

“Of course, you have my word. But I must ask something of you as well.” Kyoko raised a brow. “Escort me to my room.”

“...now?”

“Yes. I refuse to investigate any further before I fix my appearance.”

“Oh, right. I was going to ask if you were alright. You don’t look well.” Celestia couldn’t help but smile.

“And I wonder why that is?” Kyoko frowned. “But I can’t be too upset,” she sighed. “You don’t look quite yourself either.”

“Oh… is it bad?”

“It’s nothing I can’t help. That is—if you would like to join me in my room for a few minutes.” The detective paused and mulled over it for a few seconds. 

“Sure, I don’t mind that. I think I could use a break right now.” Celestia smiled in delight at her response.

“Yes, you definitely could.” Kyoko nodded in reply and turned back around towards the door. 

“Then I guess we should get going.” The two began to leave the room and headed out of the quarters, down the second floor dormitories. It had been an odd and emotional time there, but for some reason, Kyoko didn’t feel quite as awful about it as she thought she would’ve. Though the idea of another student seeing her cry seemed to be about the worst thing that could possibly happen, there was something different about it. She was almost comforted, having Celestia around. There was an air of understanding and privacy between the two that made her wonder if sharing her feelings wasn’t as bad of a thing as she thought. But that sort of theory would be best left alone until they made it to the dorm.

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: My amazing girlfriend made art of this you guys should check it out! [(Link Here)](https://spacey-37.tumblr.com/post/611984653791952896/want-context-go-read-my-girlfriends-fic)


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